Design cities with women in mind

[noblegiraffe]

Interesting article here about how changes to public planning by considering the needs of women can improve safety and increase revenue:

www.citymetric.com/politics/what-works-men-doesn-t-work-everyone-why-cities-need-start-planning-women-mind-2123

The bit about splitting up playgrounds to give girls a space was interesting. I vividly remember the playground at primary school being given over to boys playing football while girls hung around the fringes trying to find space for skipping.

I wonder who is involved in designing and planning towns? If people who had more experience of 'using towns, shops and the urban environment' with buggies, wheelchairs and with conditions that make things more difficult, were more involved - would things be different?

People who have direct experience of using 'systems' and are aware of the issues should be more involved at planning and policy level. (Yes, Government Ministers, that goes for you with the NHS, education and social work etc). Otherwise you fail to truly appreciate the issues.

Not a town centre but climbing Snowdon was ruined for me because so much of it was reinforced steps (they put in to stop popular paths eroding), which were a little too big to be comfortable. Have noticed this in various popular outdoorsy spots.

I was just thinking about the argument that there should be more women and BME MPs. People who are against quotas or positive measures sometimes say that women or BME people can be represented just as well by a middle-aged white man, because it's their job to do this.

Clearly experience of various issues is vital.

I'm 6'0 andSinks should be designed for taller people..my back hurts doing dishes. i also love it when toilets are higher.

I am always amazed though that there hasnt been a design for 'urinal cubilcles' for women though with perhaps a saddle type affair that could allow them to be smaller, thinner and used quickly...

Scary, not sure if you are male?

According to google, average height of woman in U.K. Is 5ft 3 and man is 5 ft 9, so think a large swathe of the population would struggle with higher sinks (not to mention that children use them to wash hands for tea etc)

www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-11534042

Also, the trouble with female urinals is that women still need to take down knickers and tights/trousers. Which is why women will always take longer in the loo and should have more loos!

There's a motorway service station I go to quite often, and our local Sainsbury's where in the toilets, one of the sinks is at 2/3 height. It means that my kids can wash their own hands without being hoiked up awkwardly.

Once I've seen it, it now bugs me that more public toilets don't do this.

Not just children - anyone in a wheelchair as well.

And yes - there are a huge number of biological and social reasons why women need to go to the toilet more often, and take longer in the cubicle. When all of these are combined, it means that women actually require almost twice as many toilets, just for them to have equal access. So many people think that equality means being the same, rather than providing equal access.

Noble

Same at some motorway service. But then, no soap was put next to the lower basin!

I find most mobile phones too big for my hands.

Cars aren't as bad as they used to be, at least, more adjustable.

noblegiraffe It's always disappointing when I go somewhere theoretically aimed at young children, and they haven't even been arsed to chuck a £3 step stool into the bogs so that kids can wash their hands without standing on the sink. I just think "even if the architects couldn't be fecked to think about who they were designing for, you could still have figured out something...". Obviously a step stool wouldn't help someone in a wheelchair but at least some more people would be able to use the sinks.

It would be good to see city design proposals from both male and female perspectives and see then which ideas could be combined.

And at the same time, there's a thread running that says that 85% of purchasing is done by women - so why aren't 85% of shops etc designed around them?

I'm only 5ft tall so buy petite clothes. I'm sick of needing to stretch my arms just to try to find out the size of petite ranges never mind being able to actually get the item off the hook. Often clothes are all at the uniform height that even some quite tall people struggle with.

Credit to a manager in my local (former) BHS who started to lowrt the rails on the wall immediately after I had to ask one of the assistants to get something down for me and pointed out this basic design flaw. (There was a series of slats on the wall and hooks got slotted in.) other shops have lost my custom as I couldn't be bothered to look or couldn't find anyone to help me reach something.

Perspex stairs with gaps between them are a bugbear of mine as it means women wearing skirts or dresses might not feel comfortable using them. I can remember us having to run up stairs with gaps at school because the boys would be trying to look up our dresses from below.

Sinks that are too low, seats that don't give you enough legroom are bugbears of mine as a 5' 10" woman.

'A few taller people may need to bend their knees more...' well thanks for that! So inclusive!